Meteor Garden Version 7
by D-B2
Summary: A sequel to the taiwanese cover idol drama of manga Hana Yori Dango, LIU XING HUA YUAN... DaoMing Si, HuaZhe Lei, MeiZuo, XiMen, ShanCai are their names respectively. F4, anyone?
1. Default Chapter

1:  
  
The story starts off some time after Shancai and DaoMing Si met Harlem Yu.  
  
School has started for some time already, and Lei has just got back from a second trip to Japan.  
  
Today is Lei's first day at School.  
  
----------------------------------------------------------  
  
"Lei! You are going to get married?" ShanCai asks in shock.  
  
The news had been pinned on the school's notice board.  
  
Lei sits on the ledge of the school's balcony, his face a picture of silent endurance, and agony.  
  
2:  
  
Lei turns to ShanCai, and his eyes cringes from the glare of the sun.  
  
"Whom are you marrying to?" ShanCai questions urgently.  
  
"Why do you care?" Lei replies nonchalantly.  
  
"I-" ShanCai's sentence stops midway.  
  
Lei is right, she knows. She has no right to interfere. Yet, she still feels something for Lei that stirs her heart with emotions, a feeling of deep concern- like when a spoon stirs a cup of tea to dissolve the sugar at the bottom. She feels like that- her past emotions that she thought had long settled down were being raised again, stirred upwards.  
  
"Jing," MeiZuo appears at the doorway, "Lei is marrying to Jing."  
  
ShanCai raises her eyebrows, "But I thought..."  
  
"Did you think that Jing's parents would let their only daughter be free so easily?" MeiZuo explains, "No matter how much Jing loves a man, in their eyes, she is a princess, and only someone like Lei can match her."  
  
"You mean that neither Lei nor Jing have agreed to it?" ShanCai tries to fit the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle she knows so little about together.  
  
MeiZuo nods and continues, "It does not matter if they have consented to it or not- their marriage had been planned years before any of us were born. That was how Jing came to know us when we were children."  
  
ShanCai feels the news like a slap to her face. "Such a carefree spirit like Jing," she thinks, "who can force her to do anything against her own will?"  
  
FLASHBACK:  
  
***  
  
"My life is to be decided by me alone."  
  
Jing says with a voice brimming with confidence.  
  
***  
  
"Lei," ShanCai turns to him, "What is your decision regarding this matter?"  
  
"I plan not to do anything," he replies quietly.  
  
"What?" ShanCai stares at him.  
  
Lei gives a smile none of them had seen before, a smile of freedom, unburdened by anything. The breeze blows Lei's hair ever so gently.  
  
"What do you mean?" ShanCai chokes.  
  
"ShanCai," MeiZuo says, turning his face down, the shadows hiding his facial expression, "Lei has lost his memory."  
  
"What?" ShanCai's mouth drops open, "What happened?"  
  
3:  
  
MeiZuo shakes his head sadly; "DaoMing Si will meet you after work at the cake shop, and explain everything to you. Sayonara!"  
  
MeiZuo smiles cheerfully, and it lightens ShanCai's serious expression.  
  
*** Lei walks the long, lonely halls of the school, his head turned down. He goes to the music room, and walks on the stage. Soundlessly he takes his violin out, and plays a symphony so sad and sweet; it would break even the happiest lover's heart. "No one knows anything," he mutters to himself, and smiles a small smile, sad at the edges. ***  
  
"DaoMing Si! Are you retarded? How could you come so late? Look! I've waited for you for an hour already! Why didn't you tell me about Lei earlier?" As ShanCai shouts, her eyebrows rise in anger.  
  
"Why are you so concerned about Lei! After all, Lei is marrying Jing, it's a good surprise, isn't it?" DaoMing Si asks innocently.  
  
"Arrgh! I give up on you!" ShanCai turns her back to him.  
  
"How can you give up on me? I-I would never give up on you! You..." DaoMing Si defends himself, "You stupid woman!"  
  
ShanCai takes her bag and slams it over DaoMing Si's head.  
  
"Hey!" He moans, "That hurts!"  
  
"That's for calling me a stupid woman! And this," she slams the bag again, "Is for being an idiot!"  
  
"Who's the one being an idiot slamming her bag around?" DaoMing Si retorts.  
  
"Look who's talking? Look- who's the one supposed to tell me something about Lei and is right now talking rubbish?" ShanCai folds her arms.  
  
"Why should I tell an idiot anything?" DaoMing Si folds his arms.  
  
"You idiot!" ShanCai scolds.  
  
Then DaoMing Si grins. "If you want to know anything about Lei, don't you think you should be polite and ask me nicely?"  
  
ShanCai looks at DaoMing Si as if he committed an evil crime.  
  
"Fine!" she says, "I will apologize! BUT- after you tell me about Lei!"  
  
DaoMing Si smiles, "That's more like it!"  
  
"About Lei," DaoMing Si begins, "He went back to Japan a second time to help his father. But this time..."  
  
FLASHBACK:  
  
"Lei," HuaZhe Lei's father whispers coarsely from the sofa of the posh white marble house, "I'm too old. I am in no position to take care of the HuaZhe business anymore. Now is your time to reveal your potential, do you understand, my son?"  
  
Lei nods solemnly, thoughts of taking charge of the business tumbling in his mind. Lei waits until his father leaves the dinning room, before silently turning towards the doorway.  
  
He walks towards his silver car, parked outside the palace-like house, the wind soft blowing his hair.  
  
"SCHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH!"  
  
A car swerves sharply, hitting Lei with immediate effect.  
  
He falls, and in that still moment he fell, the world is silent. He sees the tree branches move, but he cannot hear the leaves rustling against each other. He falls hard against the floor.  
  
"Jing..." He murmurs. 


	2. chpt 4,5,6

4: "He was rushed to the hospital immediately," DaoMing Si continues, "I only knew about this from my sister a few days after Lei's accident..."  
  
***  
  
FLASHBACK:  
  
"Ah Si! Ah Si!" DaoMing Si's sister calls upon arrival at the house, dumping her luggage on the floor.  
  
"Madam, let me report to you," the housekeeper offers, "Sir is now out with the other F3."  
  
"What? Call him. Now." She orders.  
  
"Yes Madam."  
  
He rushes to the phone and dials the numbers instantly.  
  
"XiMen! Quick, drive me home." DaoMing Si asks urgently.  
  
They were at a noisy pub, and XiMen obliges. MeiZuo joins in the ride.  
  
AT HOME:  
  
"Ah Si! You're finally home!" DaoMing Si's sister says, "Lei's in trouble..."  
  
***  
  
"Afterwards I investigated the whole incident. Lei's father has many enemies, and all of them are out to take over the HuaZhe business. One of them actually took action and sent a hit man to kill Lei. But he was lucky... he survived.  
  
I haven't found out who did it," DaoMing Si squashes the can drink in his hand, the liquid gushing out, "But I will, soon."  
  
5: "XiMen! XiMen!" QingHe rushes over to XiMen's side in school like a hurried small boy.  
  
"What is it, son of an overnight millionaire?" XiMen rolls his eyeballs, "Why must you always harass me?"  
  
"Isn't it good if I keep coming to you? Our relationship could blossom into good friends! And then..."  
  
QingHe sniggers in his daydream, "There could be an F5!" QingHe laughs madly.  
  
XiMen shakes his head, giving up on QingHe, and walks off.  
  
"Where's XiMen?" QingHe turns to look around, "Hey... How could he just leave like that? I wanted to ask him where ShanCai went." QingHe pouts.  
  
***  
  
"I wonder how Lei is doing," ShanCai thinks, "Will he be at the balcony?"  
  
She smiles at the remembrance of his seemingly know-it-all grin, his cold jokes, his constant needs to sleep.  
  
She leans out of the balcony, and breathes in deeply, relaxing herself. Someone interrupts her chain of thoughts with a pat on her shoulder. ShanCai turns. It is Lei.  
  
Lei gives her his usual casual smile, and for a split second she forgets that he no longer remembers her. Her heart aches so badly at the mere thought.  
  
***  
  
FLASHBACK:  
  
"Whenever you are going to cry, as long as you overturn, your tears cannot fall."  
  
FLASHBACK:  
  
"A friend once told me, when the sun has almost risen, if you light fireworks, it will be especially easy for your wish to come true."  
  
***  
  
ShanCai's tears fall like the rain.  
  
"I've always wanted to ask you," Lei begins, "What your impression of me was."  
  
ShanCai sniffs, and tries to smile. "Don't cry," she tells herself.  
  
"You were... very handsome," she begins, "And very smart. You never liked to talk."  
  
She begins to sob.  
  
"You would always pretend to be happy, but you were always lost in the depths of your own world."  
  
Her voice is now choked, and as she tries to speak, she cannot. The tears would not stop.  
  
"ShanCai," Lei says softly, "If you need to cry, I can lend you a shoulder."  
  
ShanCai raises her eyebrows.  
  
***  
  
FLASHBACK:  
  
"If you need to cry, I can lend you a shoulder."  
  
"Who says I need to cry?"  
  
Pause.  
  
"If you don't mind, can you lend me your back?"  
  
ShanCai sobs, her face down, leaning on Lei's back.  
  
***  
  
"You really don't remember me?" ShanCai asks, slightly frowning.  
  
"ShanCai," he frowns, and drops a hint, "Now you may not understand my plans, but you will later." He walks off, his accident reoccurring in his mind.  
  
***  
  
FLASHBACK:  
  
"Jing," Lei murmurs as he falls with a silent thud on the ground.  
  
The ambulance comes, and he sees the flashing red lights. But he hears nothing, except Jing's voice repeating his name in his mind.  
  
In the Hospital:  
  
"How could he have met with an accident? If anything happens, how is he going to marry Jing?" Lei awoke up in the hospital to Jing's father's voice.  
  
"I just hope that Jing will consent to marrying Lei."  
  
The doctor strolls in the room. To Lei, he is a blur figure of white and Grey.  
  
"I think he should be alright," the doctor gives a smile- a smile he no doubt has given to millions of patients already- a detached, cold smile. "He could have lost some part of his memory, but he can be discharged tomorrow."  
  
"What a relief!" Jing's mother says with a sigh.  
  
If there is anything Lei will never forget: it is Jing. Yet, in his mind he hatches a plan. Jing has to go.  
  
6:  
  
"QianHui?" BaiHe asks in shock, "You mean it was your father who knocked down HuaZhe Lei? Why?"  
  
It is recess, and they sit at a table facing the window, talking.  
  
"To expand his business empire, of course! HuaZhe Lei's father is too weak to take care of the business. If HuaZhe Lei is removed, he could quickly buy over the business."  
  
"Can't he buy it over without any violence?" BaiHe questions.  
  
"My father had tried to buy the business, but HuaZhe Lei's father refused. So, my Dad tried other ways to sabotage the business. But then HuaZhe Lei went to Japan and fixed everything. The second time HuaZhe Lei went back to help his father, my dad decided, violence was the best method."  
  
"What?" BaiHe almost screams, "What if the other F3 finds out? Then I- Oops... I mean we- we won't get a chance with them anymore!"  
  
BaiHe continues, and her perfectly plucked eyebrows raises in anger, "What's worse is that DaoMing Si is HuaZhe Lei's best friend! And-and, DaoMing Si has a bad impression of us! Now that your family has done this, He will take revenge against you...  
  
Oh!  
  
And if I continue being friends with you, soon he will come after me, thinking that I'm involved as well!  
  
QianHui," BaiHe ends, "I think, we should not be friends anymore. You don't want my chances with the rest of F4 to be as bad as yours, right?"  
  
BaiHe gives a 'I'm-perfectly-innocent-you-should-understand' smile.  
  
"BaiHe, BaiHe," QianHui almost bursts out laughing, "You are really stupid!"  
  
"What do you mean by that?" BaiHe retorts back, furious. She cannot let QianHui win, whatever they are fighting about- men or clothes or facial features, she has to win, "I am not!"  
  
"Don't you see," QianHui wipes the tears that leaked out from laughing so hard, "If the HuaZhe business slowly fails- and it will soon, considering Lei's memory loss, can Lei continue at this school? - He would no longer have enough money, he would become poor!"  
  
"So?" BaiHe asks, puzzled.  
  
"I just knew you were stupid," QianHui continues, "If Lei becomes poor, he cannot continue at this school anymore! He would have to automatically leave. Then, DaoMing Si would be too busy finding out the truth about Lei's accident, being best friends.  
  
In school, there will only be the other F2 left."  
  
BaiHe smiles, clapping her hands in her previous lack of intelligence, "Since the other F2 bears no grudges against us, we can easily slip in, in this time of crisis F4 is facing, and grab them!"  
  
"And," QianHui smiles evilly, "DaoMing Si will never know the truth. My father has planned everything- there will be a scapegoat."  
  
"Fabulous, fabulous!" BaiHe grins, "It's time we get what we want!"  
  
The laugh together, so hard, they are both eventually crying.  
  
"Soon," QianHui snickers, "We will make ShanCai very, very sad."  
  
"Yes!" BaiHe nods, "As sad as she made us." 


	3. chpt 7,8,9

7:  
  
THE TAIWAN TIMES  
  
THE HUAZHE BUSINESS IS SLOWLY FAILING, AND NOW IT SEEMS THAT IT WILL NOT RECOVER THE GLORY IT HAS SEEN IN PREVIOUS YEARS. HUAZHE LEI, THE SUCCESSOR OF THE BUSINESS IS REPORTEDLY SUFFERING FROM AMNESIA, AND WAS NOT AVAILABLE FOR COMMENT WHEN REPORTERS LOOKED FOR HIM AT HIS HOME.  
  
ON THE CONTRARY, THE QIAN BUSINESS HAS NEVER DONE SO SPLENDIDLY. NOW IT HAS DIRECTLY BECOME THE HUAZHE BUSINESS'S ARCH ENEMY, AS CUSTOMERS NOW CHOOSE TO DEAL WITH THE  
  
QIAN BUSINESS, NOW THAT THE HUAZHE BUSINESS IS FACING SUCH WORRIES.  
  
THE TENGTANG BUSINESS, WHO LAST ANNOUNCED THAT THEY HAD SIGNED A 30 MILLION DOLLAR DEAL WITH THE HUAZHE BUSINESS, WAS ALSO NOT AVAILABLE FOR COMMENT. WHILE THERE IS  
  
NEWS THAT HUAZHE LEI AND TENGTANG JING WILL BE GETTING MARRIED TO SECURE THIS DEAL, OUR BET IS THAT THE WEDDING, AND PERHAPS THE BUSINESS WILL FALL THROUGH.  
  
***  
  
"ShanCai! ShanCai!" QingHe calls breathlessly, running behind ShanCai.  
  
ShanCai turns her head; her hair is tied into two pigtails.  
  
"Look!" He points to a newspaper article, "It says that the HuaZhe business is failing!"  
  
ShanCai eagerly takes the newspaper in her hands, her face a picture of endless worrying.  
  
"Lei," she murmurs to no one in particular, "What are you going to do?"  
  
8:  
  
"So... Do you really think that this is a good idea?" DaoMing Si asks the other F2.  
  
XiMen nods, "I think it's the best plan."  
  
"Okay!" Bubbly MeiZuo jumps up from his seat, and leads the way to the door, "Let's go and save Lei!"  
  
*** Lei sits in his father's office, located in a tall sleek building of glass. He has been sitting there for hours since the early morning, pressing keys and writing in an official-looking black file next to the computer. His tender eyes peer through his fringe, which are staring at a computer screen. In his mind, the options of what to do next are scattered all over.  
  
After a few troubled moments, he briefly gives a smile of amusement as his hands presses a few keys on the keyboard.  
  
"Done," he says simply.  
  
He gets up to leave, and the secretary eyes him again. As he walks, all the female workers turn their heads and give deep, crimson blushes.  
  
But he sees none of these.  
  
*** F3 arrives at the HuaZhe building, and walks in without a question from the security guards- they are so well known, there is no question as to whom they are.  
  
Their pace is slow, and for a single moment they resemble some kind of rare angels, shining brightly, who would disappear with all their perfection and beauty if you dared to blink.  
  
Then MeiZuo fumbles.  
  
"Whoops!" He leans on DaoMing Si. DaoMing Si falls due to the sudden unexpected weight of MeiZuo. DaoMing Si tries to steady himself and grabs XiMen's hand.  
  
With yelps, all three collapses to the floor.  
  
"MeiZuo!" DaoMing Si and XiMen start to complain.  
  
"Oops," MeiZuo apologises with a smile.  
  
"A lot of babes were staring at us!" XiMen complains, "Now I can't go home today with more then one babe!" XiMen fakes a pout.  
  
Then DaoMing Si throws him a weird look. "True love is the best, XiMen," DaoMing Si begins, "and-"  
  
"Wait!" XiMen gives a horrified look, "Your true love is a figure-less person. I don't want to follow your philosophy."  
  
"What?" DaoMing Si becomes agitated, "ShanCai might not have a figure, but she's-she's-she's... Arrgh, I'm not speaking to you!"  
  
"Oh, stop it, both of you!" MeiZuo shakes his head disapprovingly, "Isn't F4's friendship stronger then anything? And besides, now is the time to save Lei, and not talk about your love lives!"  
  
"MeiZuo," XiMen gives a smile, "You're right. I won't fight with petty people!"  
  
"Hey! I- not you- won't fight with petty people," DaoMing Si adds.  
  
They quarrel all the way to the office.  
  
*** "What? What's this?" ShanCai glares at a yellow piece of paper sticking out from her locker, "A yellow strip of warning paper? Who is this person kidding?"  
  
"You."  
  
QianHui and BaiHe appear.  
  
BaiHe points her nose in the air, "We've bribed enough people to respect this yellow warning paper. And we've decided to put our power to the test. And our first victim..."  
  
"Is you," QianHui finishes off the sentence.  
  
All ShanCai can do is to burst out laughing. "You two designed this yourself?"  
  
She points to the two female figures on the paper. Then squashing it, she throws it at their faces. The paper misses their faces and falls to their feet.  
  
"Don't even bother to try victimising me," ShanCai says with confidence, "or you will lose your chances with F4. Don't start crying and say I didn't warn you."  
  
"No," BaiHe speaks.  
  
"Don't start crying," QianHui continues.  
  
"And say we didn't warn you," BaiHe ends.  
  
They give smug grins and cackle as they walk off.  
  
"That fool," QianHui mutters.  
  
9: AT THE OFFICE:  
  
"Lei!" XiMen begins calling, "Lei!"  
  
MeiZuo goes to the secretary's table to ask for help. Instead of a capable secretary, he sees instead a blushing female helpless to his charm.  
  
DaoMing Si is at Lei's computer.  
  
"We're a step too late. Lei has salvaged the company," he informs.  
  
MeiZuo laughs.  
  
"That's the Lei I know," MeiZuo says with an encouraging nod.  
  
*****  
  
THE NEXT DAY:  
  
"I'm tired," BaiHe half-whispers lazily from her seat in the canteen.  
  
"Don't be," QianHui shakes her, "We are going to get what we want- relying on ourselves and not emotional manipulation!"  
  
"Wow," BaiHe looks up, half-amazed, "QianHui, you've changed. You're more... domineering."  
  
"I know," QianHui gives a smile, "and I like it!"  
  
"So you are sure that forcing them will work?" BaiHe questions the plan they had made painstakingly over the weekend.  
  
"Definitely. We will force F2 into our hands! Unless we do so, we will never get what we deserve! Sitting around all day is useless. This is the perfect plan to grab our dream prince charming and-" QianHui pauses, thinking for awhile.  
  
"And marry them!" BaiHe suggests.  
  
QianHui laughs and nods.  
  
*****  
  
"What?" DaoMing Si shouts at his housekeeper, "You haven't found the mastermind?"  
  
"Things..." The housekeeper trembles, "things are complicated."  
  
The housekeeper looks at the poolside, his eyes anxious- would the master throw him there? Or worse- his eyes travel back to DaoMing Si- would he beat him up?  
  
But then DaoMing Si had changed after ShanCai.  
  
"Never mind," DaoMing Si says, his tone heavy, "Try again."  
  
Then with eyes glimmering with a kind of fiery determination, DaoMing Si adds, "We'll never rest until we find out who did this to Lei."  
  
*****  
  
"F2! F2!" QingHe calls out to them in school, "What happened to HuaZhe Lei and DaoMing Si?"  
  
Both MeiZuo and XiMen sigh almost at the same time.  
  
"One is sick up here," XiMen points to his head, "While the other is sick here," he points to his heart.  
  
"Huh?" Innocent QingHe blurts.  
  
MeiZuo laughs, "I can't believe," he says to XiMen, "that Ah Si can be so upset that ShanCai is concerned about Lei- until he is determined to help Lei."  
  
"Yes, Lei will turn out fine, he knows how to take care of himself. That kind of fiery determination in his eyes in back! This time it's not for beating people up- it's for love- we should be glad. What I can't believe is how ShanCai can still openly show her care for Lei in front of Ah Si- doesn't she know how jealous Ah Si can get?" XiMen replies. "Both of them are so fitting for each other," XiMen adds as an afterthought, chuckling.  
  
MeiZuo nods.  
  
As they speak they walk to their lockers, and QingHe walks off.  
  
The instant their locker doors fling open, they cannot believe their eyes. There, stuck firmly with pride on the roof of their lockers is a piece of yellow warning strip.  
  
The shock wears off and only hysteria and puzzlement takes over.  
  
They tear out the paper and look to each other with mocking eyes.  
  
"Such ugly drawing," MeiZuo comments and crushes the paper.  
  
"My exact sentiment!" XiMen replies, doing the same thing.  
  
"Wait right there!" A female voice commands from somewhere.  
  
Both men lift their heads to find the source of the voice- QianHui.  
  
They roll their eyeballs and ignore her, walking off.  
  
"Hey! F2! F2! I said wait! Wait!" QianHui shouts desperately.  
  
Furious, she rushes to block the path of the two men.  
  
"What is it this time?" XiMen asks, moving QianHui's hand aside.  
  
She looks as if she would have melted from his touch. Instead she shakes her head violently and continues blocking their path.  
  
"In this school," BaiHe appears and takes over, "F4 no longer has power. If you want to survive, you two gentlemen, you better treat us well."  
  
"What a joke!" MeiZuo shouts, flipping his fringe back.  
  
"As if this is a joke!" BaiHe replies.  
  
"Here," she passes him a phone, "call your fathers. They'll tell you what's going on."  
  
"MeiZuo, sorry," MeiZuo's father begins apologetically, "The Qian Company has suddenly become very powerful overnight. There's nothing I can do. I need you to please QianHui and BaiHe- at least for the moment."  
  
"What a fake sounding voice!" MeiZuo gives a look of disgust, "But I must add that both of your computer skills are excellent."  
  
"QianHui, what were you saying about calling our fathers?" XiMen mocks QianHui.  
  
"It's no use," QianHui says, "No matter how you mock us F4 will be the one that's going to suffer."  
  
"Because," BaiHe says, "In about three hours the Qian business will be buying over the DaoMing business. Your leader will be in such a desperate situation. Come beg us to save you, gentlemen."  
  
They flick their black hair, cascading and glimmering like the black eyes of a monster over their necks. 


	4. chpt 10,11,12

10: A man sits tied up in a dark room. His closed eyes blink open, revealing eyes reflecting terror. Desperately, as a drowning man will clutch at a straw, he screams- muffled screams through the rag tied securely over his lips. Then he begins to move violently, but the chair falls and hits the ground instead- delivering a painful smack to his back.  
  
On the dirty cement floor, he notices someone else- another victim. From the only shaft of light pouring in like a thin stream of water from the bottom of a door, he recognizes the man- XiLiang- The wealthy owner of the Xi business, tied up like him.  
  
Hope fills his eyes- he isn't alone. He only wonders what his son, MeiZuo will do, and what XiLiang's son, XiMen, will do.  
  
Suddenly he feels a strong surge of anger rising in him, so strong steam could have been gushing out from his ears! Angry, cheated, and kidnapped, he drags himself to the door. His mind seems to have a life of it's own, slipping back to moments before...  
  
FLASHBACK:  
  
***  
  
MeiZuo's father sits at his office desk, staring at a computer, eyes shifting between the papers on his table and the screen.  
  
"Slam!" The door had silently opened, and now it slams shut.  
  
Alarmed, he looks up- there is no one. what is happening? Curious, he gets up from his seat- only to feel the weight of the nose of a gun from behind his neck.  
  
"Don't move," a rough voice whispers.  
  
His instinct tells him something is wrong- his instincts are never wrong.  
  
Quickly a rag is placed over his mouth, and before he can struggle, he inhales some kind of drug that leaves a bitter taste in the back of his tongue- and passes out.  
  
*** "How can this be?" XiMen asks QianHui, "Who doesn't know that the Xi, Mei, DaoMing and HuaZhe business are among the top ten richest in the world? As for your father's business, it can't even come close to comparing with our wealth!"  
  
XiMen's face has an expression that screams out you-must-be-joking.  
  
"Nothing is impossible, XiMen," QianHui replies, "Especially when..."  
  
QianHui's eyes dart around- there are too many people around.  
  
"Fine," she says, a last resort, "You want to challenge my power? Meet me here, at the lockers after school. I won't leave until I see the both of you, you can be assured of that!"  
  
With that, heads high in the air, QianHui and BaiHe struts off, while F2 looks at their fading backs.  
  
11:  
  
"Lei!"  
  
Lei turns his head towards his room door, and sees the owner of the voice- Jing.  
  
His face breaks open abruptly into a smile.  
  
"Your housekeeper let me in," she explains.  
  
She still looks beautiful, although she is changed. Her hair is still short, but trimmed nicely, so that she looks more independent then the fragile ornament Jing used to be.  
  
He gives her a nod.  
  
"Do you remember me?" She asks tenderly.  
  
He wants to shake his head, to say, "I remember you from the pictures," and lie. But he cannot do it- not to Jing.  
  
She sighs, "I heard that you have lost your memory."  
  
Then she grins, "Still no sofa in the room?"  
  
It triggers a memory of before...  
  
Flashback:  
  
***  
  
"Lei, why is there still no sofa in your room? Where do you expect me to sit?"  
  
Lei, groggy from sleep, muttered, "Go home!"  
  
"How do you expect me to go home- I just quarreled with my mom over ShanCai!" DaoMing Si said.  
  
Lei gave no response.  
  
"Anyway," DaoMing Si's tone was cheeky, "look at what ShanCai gave me! Biscuits! Doesn't it look like me?"  
  
Lei, in a rare move, grabbed the biscuit.  
  
"Hey!"  
  
***  
  
"Jing," he turns serious, "did you know that we are supposed to be getting married?"  
  
"That's why I'm here," her eyes darken.  
  
They pause for a while, and the silence is deafening.  
  
"Lei," Jing brazenly says, "I'm refusing this marriage."  
  
She looks at him, expecting some traumatic change. There is none.  
  
"I like you, Lei," She continues, "It's just that..."  
  
"I'm not interested in your affairs," he interrupts; voice as cold as a smooth rock that survived weathering.  
  
She laughs, "I forgot. Lei does not remember Jing anymore. What does it matter if Jing is married? Lei does not love Jing anymore."  
  
She speaks in a voice, with such a similar tone that it is the same voice that persuaded Lei out of his autistic world. The ice world he lived in, isolated from people then. A world where there was no love or hate, just blankness, just air, just nothing at all- no words to corrupt the peace.  
  
"Jing," he thinks in his heart, "Why did you have to say this?"  
  
His features are dark in the shadows.  
  
"The wedding will be cancelled, then," Jing confirms, "Lei, you are in this with me?" He nods.  
  
"I'll miss you," She half-whispers, and touches his hands- just once, so as not to attach too much emotion into it.  
  
He moves his hands aside. In the darkness, it is difficult to see his face. His eyes stare some distance away on the ground, at a beam of light from the window, pouring into his dark world.  
  
"Bye, Lei." She closes the door, and erases her existence.  
  
"Bye, Jing," he replies in his heart.  
  
For what did it matter what he thought, Lei thinks, he did not have the power to clip the wings of such a powerful eagle as Jing- soaring in the sky while he looked up with admiration. Besides, he should have long got used to the feel of rejection from the time he spent with Jing in France.  
  
"Bye, Jing," he repeats.  
  
That beam of light he was eyeing fades away as a cloud covers the setting sun.  
  
12: -------------------  
  
In class at YingDe University:  
  
-------------------  
  
QianHui stares at the board, while the teacher goes on talking endlessly- she knows she doesn't have to pay attention- no one in YingDe needs to, except ShanCai, the eternal exception of course.  
  
Her mind is in a whirl, and she sloppily leans on the table.  
  
Outside, the rain falls- like a chant, like a soothing song for meditation purposes. "Hey!" A man shouts accusingly at a person- some man she does not recognise.  
  
That person turns his head, and she studies him. His hair is short and spiky, his eyes a warm brown. There is this mole on his neck that she watches with interest. As he speaks it bobs up and down.  
  
"Sorry!" He says, "I didn't mean to bang into you."  
  
He bends down to pick some books up from the floor, and accidentally, when he raises his head, their eyes lock.  
  
Some God up in heaven stops the rain. It becomes amazingly quiet.  
  
QianHui's heartbeat begins to increase in speed, but she does nothing but to stare at the man from her class doorway.  
  
The man sees her, and takes in her beauty- big eyes, exotic features, and a flowing river of silk-like hair.  
  
Until the class bell rang, they stay that way.  
  
Then he runs off abruptly.  
  
------------  
  
"Dad," Lei speaks into the phone.  
  
"Lei," his father blurts out immediately, "How are you? Can you remember me?"  
  
"I have remembered you, Dad," Lei wants to laugh at the trick he has played that his father fell for, "That is why I went to save our business."  
  
"I know," His father laughs, pleased, "Well done, well done."  
  
"Dad," Lei does not hesitate, "I want to cancel the wedding."  
  
"What do you mean by that?" Lei's father questions, "I inked the deal with the TengTang business years ago in the event that the HuaZhe business would fail. And now cannot you see that we are not doing very well?"  
  
"Dad, I cannot remember anything about Jing. I cannot marry a woman I do not love."  
  
His father says nothing, as if lost for words.  
  
"You know," he asks, "that the TengTang business was chosen because of Jing? It was Jing who cured you of autism; I believed it was only appropriate. I don't want you to suffer in marriage. But now, Lei, I don't think I have a choice. The Qian business is on par with us- it's never been this way. We have lost a lot of assets. Tell me what you intend to do."  
  
"Dad," Lei says confidently, "If you do not want me to suffer in marriage, cancel it. I can save the company. Leave this task to me.  
  
Trust me."  
  
It is so seldom to hear Lei speak to him with so much self-assurance, that Lei's father cannot refuse his son.  
  
"Yes, yes," Lei's father coughs, "Leave my failing business to the hands of my inexperienced son- an inexperienced son but still a son.  
  
Lei, I will trust you. You are old enough. As for your marriage, I will speak to Jing's parents. Don't let me down."  
  
----------  
  
"Ah Si!" XiMen yells over the phone, "QianHui told us that her father is buying over your family's business. We don't know what's going on, but I think you... You better prepare for trouble."  
  
"I know," DaoMing Si replies, "I'm already at the stock market. Don't worry about this- the Qian business cannot compare to my mother."  
  
XiMen laughs, "You are right. No one can beat your mother."  
  
-----------  
  
AT JING'S HOUSE  
  
-----------  
  
"Lei!" Jing's voice sounds happy today.  
  
Lei looks at her while she walks down the stairs. He loves her so much- does she ever realize that? Was it that difficult to choose him?  
  
He knows that if she chooses him suddenly, he'll never let her go. He knows that he will always remember the glorious shine of her hair, that dark head that never got to rest on his shoulder, and her eyes- those liquid brown eyes that understood, that cared.  
  
He knows she will linger on in every stage of his life, somehow.  
  
He knows he will never find another Jing.  
  
It was difficult to mask his pain, but he understands that true love is more about giving then having what you want. The show of amnesia was for Jing- so she would not feel guilty for not loving him, so it would be easy to break off ties with him, for her to forget him, as she believed he forgot her.  
  
After today, HuaZhe Lei can finally be back.  
  
"Jing," he stands up, "My father has agreed to cancel the marriage."  
  
And just like that, he walks out. 


	5. chpt 13

13: F2 are sitting in the canteen when they hear the whole canteen silence. In rather bad moods already, they lift up their heads with reluctance.  
  
"Spare me- Oh good, gracious God," MeiZuo jokes to XiMen, "I promise I'll be good- spare me from..."  
  
"MeiZuo," XiMen interrupts, cutting his steak, "You'll never be good."  
  
MeiZuo laughs, "That's why the girls come after me!"  
  
"You...!"  
  
Footsteps are heard, and a figure stands behind XiMen. MeiZuo finally knows why the whole canteen hushed.  
  
"Lei!" MeiZuo is too shocked to say anything else. In traditional MeiZuo style, his mouth is opened in a big 'O'; his eyebrows raised high, and his eyes twinkles with charm. Hearing MeiZuo mention Lei, XiMen rattles on him.  
  
"Yes! That-that Lei! How could he lose his memory; I'm so angry. He's leaving that BaiHe and QianHui to us! How could he? At a time like this... That Lei- He's really too much! He-"  
  
"Yes?" Lei speaks.  
  
XiMen turns his head. Quickly, he gives a sweet smile.  
  
"He's really such a nice guy," He turns to MeiZuo, "MeiZuo, don't you think?"  
  
MeiZuo and Lei laugh, "XiMen, forget trying to cover up."  
  
"Why am I always caught in such situations?" XiMen asks. Then cheekily, he warns, "Are you sure? You don't want me to lie? I-I don't even need to cover up?"  
  
Lei nods.  
  
"Sit here," XiMen gestures to a chair, faking a solemn and sad tone.  
  
"What is it?" Lei asks.  
  
"Close your eyes," XiMen requests.  
  
Lei frowns. But it is too late. Before Lei can react, MeiZuo jumps from his seat and covers Lei's eyes. XiMen takes over, grabbing the chilli bottle. By the time Lei removes MeiZuo's half-hearted hands off him, MeiZuo and XiMen has left. Lei opens his eyes, and the first thing he sees is the table.  
  
"YOU ARE TERRIBLE!!!" A message on the table in chilli reads.  
  
Lei laughs. Then his hand phone sounds. He retrieves it from his pocket- XiMen has messaged him.  
  
"WE JUST REMEMBERED- DIDN'T YOU HAVE AMNESIA?" It reads.  
  
"F4 WILL ALWAYS BE F4- WHETHER EITHER ONE OF US HAS AMNESIA OR NOT. AND ANYWAY, ALL OF YOU ARE TOO DIFFICULT TO FORGET." He messages back.  
  
It is meant to be a joke, his last line. But XiMen and MeiZuo, who are just outside the canteen's doorway peeking at Lei's reaction, looks at each other with bored eyes and says, "Another cold joke."  
  
"Lei," MeiZuo utters in an I-give-up-on-you tone, "When will you ever learn?"  
  
"Hey Lei!" XiMen calls to Lei from the doorway, "Let's go already!"  
  
Lei makes a thumbs-down sign. Then he takes a napkin from the table, and dutifully clears the mess.  
  
XiMen and MeiZuo look on, used to such a Lei. They wait until Lei is done.  
  
"Lei," MeiZuo asks, "I think you never had amnesia. It was all a lie, wasn't it?" Lei grins.  
  
"Anyway, we have a lot to tell you," MeiZuo adds.  
  
----------  
  
XiMen's father made it to the door, but after worming his way there, there was nothing else he could do. "Resign to fate," a voice told him.  
  
MeiZuo's father and XiLiang cringes their eyes when the door swings open.  
  
"Hello there," a rough voice speaks.  
  
They recognize it- that tyrannous voice- who would forget it? That man who cheated and lied some of their clients away, who threatened them numerous times to give up some of their assets- QianGuang. They should have known it was he.  
  
MeiZuo's father and XiLiang glare at him. If their glare were potentially dangerous lasers, QianGuang would have been burned to ashes in a matter of microseconds.  
  
QianGuang's coarse voice cackles, evilly, "Your businesses are going broke soon... I will get your sons to pay for your ransoms, than kill you- wouldn't that be fun? Oh... such poor, poor, poor things you are." He laughs some more.  
  
The more he laughs, the more the hatred for him grows in MeiZuo's father and XiLiang's minds. They detest him to the very core of their beings. They feel as if they have never known hate, the true deep and dark meaning of hate, until this moment.  
  
Then QianGuang walks towards the door, walking purposefully slow steps.  
  
"I'm walking away, closing this door," he says, "Better make yourselves comfortable- this will be the last place you will breathe air from," then he closes the door with a loud slam. From the inside, they can still hear him laughing.  
  
-------------  
  
In the plane flying to Taiwan, a cute girl holds XiMen's photo in her hands. Her finger traces his features. Her hair is different now- it is longer, and curled at the ends. She is different from the last time she returned back to Taiwan, and left again. She has matured. The air stewardess happens to see the picture she holds.  
  
"I know that man!" She says to the girl, "He's XiMen, the son of the top ten richest businessman in Taiwan! I'm a big fan of him- too bad he's too young for me..." She goes on, talking and talking.  
  
To the girl, her words sound like a machine-gun she never meant to turn out, rattling non-stop, bullets into her heart.  
  
XiMen, XiMen- the source of so much pain. She felt a different kind of love for him- a love in which she felt pain for him, pain for his actions, pain for his life, pain, pain, so much pain... But she could not let go of him. Once she loved him, she knew there was no way to stop.  
  
Even if it's too painful to love, sometimes one must carry on.  
  
The girl knows that this time that she's back in Taiwan, it's going to be her last time. She feels too weak to take anymore rejection- she has tried to hard. Cannot he see her love? She will rather be loved than love.  
  
If he rejects her this time, she would disappear, she would pretend that he never existed. But in the very depths of her beating heart, she knows that he would be the one to make her feel safe and happy. He would be there for her.  
  
She smiles.  
  
"XiMen," she whispers in her breath to herself, "I'm giving you one last try." 


	6. chpt 14,15

14: AT YINDE UNIVERSITY:  
  
--------- QianHui bumps into the man she locked eyes with- embarrassingly, moments ago. She blushes instantly, the blood rushing to her ears and face. She feels hot all over.  
  
"Calm down," she tells herself.  
  
But it does not work.  
  
"Sorry," she tells the man.  
  
Suddenly she has become painfully shy. She only dares look at his throat, and look at that familiar mole.  
  
He does not reply her. He stands rooted to the floor. Worried something might be wrong, QianHui looks up at him- just a quick glance, to check if... ...  
  
Too late- once again, their eyes lock, and it seems they cannot remove themselves from each other's gaze. Cupid has shot his arrow deep into their hearts.  
  
He reaches for her hand. She does not resist his touch.  
  
"What is your name, miss?" He asks.  
  
"QianHui," she introduces, his politeness already making her swoon all over.  
  
"I'm DongSi," he says, "Are you free today?"  
  
They make small talk, and agree to meet after school at a little coffee shop he knows of. He promises great cakes, perfect company. She does not know how to reject him, and like a schoolgirl, she nods eagerly to his request to meet.  
  
And even though they are perfect strangers, she already hopes in her heart that they will live happily ever after.  
  
----------------------------  
  
XiLiang is wide-awake in the dark, dusty place he knows not. He worms his way to the door- like MeiZuo's father, but this time, he is lucky.  
  
As he slams his body against the door repeatedly, a little girl hears the noise. Frightened with the stories of ghosts her brothers had ganged up to scare her with the night before, she turns and runs home as fast as her legs would carry her.  
  
"Ma..." she moans aloud.  
  
---------------------------  
  
XiMen, Lei and MeiZuo are sitting at the grass patch near their school, joyfully picnicking Lei's troubles away. To MeiZuo and XiMen, their father's voices are a hoax- QianHui's whole plan is false. They have no concrete evidence, but their fathers simply had not sounded like their fathers- it was that simple.  
  
They have not planned anything much, but they feel that since DaoMing Si's father's business was saved, they were partially assured of their well- beings- in a way.  
  
---------------------------  
  
"Does QianGuang think he can compete with me? What a joke!" DaoMing Feng tells her son.  
  
A few moments later, shouts are heard all over the company.  
  
An excited office boy runs over to DaoMing Feng. "Not only have we dropped their share value, we are almost close to buying them over. Madam, do you want to buy over them?" He asks.  
  
"Of course!" she exclaims, "They need to see my power for themselves before they retreat back into their dirt hole!"  
  
"Mum," DaoMing Si says, "I-I... I want to go back to school now."  
  
"Since when did you become so hardworking?" she asks her son in her high- pitched highly confident way, "Are you telling me my son has changed and that I don't know of it? Oh, I know you very, very well. Ah Si, you want to go back to school to see  
  
ShanCai, isn't it?"  
  
He keeps very quiet.  
  
"Say something," she prompts, "Why aren't you saying anything? Unless you mean to say that... I'm correct?"  
  
"Mum!" He almost explodes, "How many times do you want to go through with this? I really love-"  
  
"I didn't say you couldn't be with ShanCai," she interrupts.  
  
"What?"  
  
"I said, I didn't say you couldn't be with ShanCai."  
  
"You mean- you are saying- I-I... I can...?"  
  
She laughs, "Yes, yes. Go to ShanCai. My son has grown up already, he no longer wants to stay with his mother."  
  
He grins- cheekily as a small child would.  
  
He walks a few steps, and then turns his head to say a few words to his mother. "Mum," he says, "Thank you... I really appreciate it."  
  
As she watches his fading back, DaoMing Feng mutters, "That's the least I can do..."  
  
---------------------  
  
As the cute girl walks out of the airport's terminal, someone calls her name.  
  
"XiaoYou!" Her Aunt calls.  
  
XiaoYou smiles. Her smile is brilliant and happy. She feels so glad to be on the same land as XiMen.  
  
"Wow," her Aunt looks her up and down, "You've changed. You've become more prettier!"  
  
XiaoYou laughs, "You mean to say I was never pretty until now?"  
  
"Oh, no, no," Her Aunt shakes her head, "You've always been my pretty XiaoYou."  
  
XiaoYou drops her luggage at her Aunt's house, and goes to YingDe University immediately.  
  
She needs to see XiMen badly.  
  
-------------------- XiaoYou is walking on a street, and as she walks, she sees DaoMing Si in his red sports car, racing to the university.  
  
The green man flashes, the cars stop to let the pedestrians cross, and DaoMing Si sees her.  
  
He is shocked. He grins at her in his friendly way, and gestures for her to come for a ride with him.  
  
Before the red man is turned on, XiaoYou is in DaoMing Si's car, racing to YingDe, both thinking only of their lovers'.  
  
15: "XiaoYou! Ah Si!" XiMen sees the both of them walking together, and turns ridiculously cheerful.  
  
"XiaoYou?" ShanCai who had just ended lessons was shocked.  
  
"Hi everyone," XiaoYou says.  
  
"XiaoYou! How could you? I treat you as my best friend and yet you do this to me..." ShanCai says.  
  
"I wanted to give you a surprise! So don't be upset... my intentions were good!" XiaoYou sounds good-natured.  
  
XiaoYou hesitates for a while, before turning to XiMen. Courage surges in her, as she says, "XiMen, let's meet after your classes."  
  
"XiaoYou, I'm sorry," XiMen sounds polite- ever the gentlemen, "I'm meeting someone else."  
  
His remark stings XiaoYou, and she feels hurt by his statement. She feels hurt to be rejected. Nevertheless, she pushes back the thought away as soon as it came.  
  
"I was just wondering, you know," XiaoYou smiles sweetly, "XiMen, how many girlfriends do you have?"  
  
XiMen frowns, and gives his polite smile. "Uncountable, I suppose..." He is quite proud of what he has just said.  
  
MeiZuo laughs wickedly and flips his fringe back. "If XiMen has a different girlfriend everyday... XiaoYou, I think you can roughly estimate!"  
  
"You have a different girlfriend everyday?" XiaoYou asks.  
  
"Yes."  
  
A man walks by, and afraid of F4's wrath, he shivers as he passes the group.  
  
"Hey!" XiaoYou calls to him, "Mister! Are you free today?"  
  
The man is shocked- is F4 playing their latest trick on him?  
  
"Yes," he is honest.  
  
"Good," XiaoYou says cheerfully, turning to face XiMen, "you'll be my boyfriend for today."  
  
"WHAT?" XiMen spits.  
  
"What is it?" XiaoYou frowns, "You mean I can't have a different boyfriend everyday?" XiMen stands up, and holds XiaoYou's hands. Then abruptly, he runs off, pulling her along.  
  
"Wow," DaoMing Si says, "Since when did they become so... passionate?"  
  
"Hey!" ShanCai calls after them, "How can the both of you romantically run off? XiaoYou! Be careful! That XiMen is..."  
  
"ShanCai," Lei says, "Just let them be."  
  
"What? How can I do that? We all know that XiMen is that sort..."  
  
"That sort that cherishes XiaoYou," Lei interrupts.  
  
"Lei, I will trust you. If anything happens to XiaoYou I will..." ShanCai animatedly makes a strangling action.  
  
Lei laughs.  
  
"ShanCai!" DaoMing Si became a little jealous of XiMen, "Let's run off too!"  
  
"Are you crazy? Is your brain functioning today? We? Run off? Like..."  
  
Before ShanCai could finish her sentence, DaoMing Si has already grabbed her hand and is running off.  
  
They were such a clumsy sight; Lei and MeiZuo are helpless with laughter. 


	7. note!

This story was completed a year ago. I have been posting the first 15 chapters on fanfiction.net If you are interested to read all of the 77 chapters, Please visit: www.winglin.net/fanfic/xbluex 


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